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Things That Are Not True

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We often ignore those things that are not true . They are after all not true, so why bother? The interesting thing about things that ar...

We often ignore those things that are not true. They are after all not true, so why bother? The interesting thing about things that are not true is why we believe them not to be true. We believe them not to be true, but why? How do we know they are not true? Why do we believe some things to be true, but not other things?

So, what are examples of things that are not true? My favorite example are fire breathing dragons. I'm pretty sure they don't exist, and most people will agree. We do not believe fire breathing dragons, like those in the fairy stories, exist. Why should we?

There are other examples too. Those little people with wings that fly around, which we often call fairies, do not exist. Their cousins, the leprechaun, also do not exist. Most of will agree they do not. But a short time ago, many people did believe in them.

Today only a few believe in Zeus or the other ancient Greek Gods. But in the past, belief in Zeus was strong. In fact, the belief in Zeus, by millions of peoples, lasted for over a thousand years, maybe two thousand. Those believers knew Zeus existed. They only had to look up at the blue sky and clouds for proof.

Here in the western world, as another example, most people do not believe in the many Gods of the Hindu religion. We westerns ignore the Hindu Gods. But in Asia the Gods of Hinduism are worshipped by a billion people every day. We in the west know those Gods do not exist, but how can we be so sure? After all billions of people have believed in those Gods for many thousands of years. Can so many people be wrong?

I know with a great certainty that our planet has never been visited by exterritorial beings. I have no doubt on this. Yet, many people believe we have been visited by intelligent life from other solar systems. They are wrong. But how can I be so sure I'm right?

Well, I can't be absolutely certain.

It turns out that absolute certainty is impossible because it is always possible that new information will invalidate what we thought we knew. We believe something is impossible because all available information seems to imply it is impossible. But someone might discover some new information that shows the impossible is possible. We can never be sure that such information, yet undiscovered, might be discovered that will prove possible what we thought was impossible. With this new information, we will believe in what we before thought was not true. But until that new information comes in, if it comes in, we believe based on what we know.

Belief should be based on what is known, not on what is not known but guessed at.

So how can I be so sure we have not been visited by exterritorial beings? First, no example of ET has been found. Second, the closest solar system to us are very far away, four light years away. Third, the cosmic radiation in outer space is very dangerous. Perhaps we will discover how to block such radiation from a space craft, but cosmic radiation is powerful stuff and it might not be possible to block it. Fourth, it would take thousands of years to travel between solar systems. It would be crazy for intelligent beings to spend their lives, and their children lives, just to explore other solar systems.

There are no reasons for believing we have been visited by ETs, no really, undeniable evidence.

There are also no reasons for believing in fire breathing dragons. There's no reasons for believing in fairies, leprechaun, Greek Gods (or any other Gods), or ETs. There is just no reason for such beliefs. That is why we do not believe in so many things. There's no reason to.